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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22353763">The Almost Crime</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TotidemVerbis/pseuds/TotidemVerbis'>TotidemVerbis</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>FrattWeek2020 [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>daredevil - Fandom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, No actual violence, possibility of violence, reader POV</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 08:21:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,851</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22353763</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TotidemVerbis/pseuds/TotidemVerbis</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>You come across a crime in an alley and take the heroic route.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>FrattWeek2020 [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1608433</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Fratt Week</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Almost Crime</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This one only centers on Matt, and I think I'm slowly getting back into the groove of Marvel writing.</p><p>I imagine this taking place somewhere in Season 1 of Daredevil, but it can fit in anywhere.</p><p>Written for FrattWeek2020<br/>Day 2: City</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>You heard the raised angry voice before you even reached the mouth of the alley, and you knew that you had two choices. You could walk past the narrow opening with your head down and eyes averted, deaf to whatever probable crime was occurring. The second option was to step in, assess the situation and see what you could do to help. Going by the loud voice and the softer placating tone, some guy was getting mugged and trying to talk his way out of it. Some muggings weren't that dangerous. Just someone using their natural bulk to corner someone perceived as weaker. Then there were the muggings that involved knives or guns, and those muggings could turn really bad really fast. That kind of mugging would require a call to the cops, but first you needed to see what was going on. You had been taking self-defense classes and even had a permit for the gun secured in your bag, and you immediately turned on your heel as you reached the alley instead of hurrying past.</p><p>With one hand inside your bag and firmly gripping the small handgun that your gun-lovin' friend had helped you to pick out, you walked into the alley with your head held high and quickly took in the scene. There was one very large guy, hovering over someone, with what looked like a cotton ski mask pulled over his face. You knew he had to be dedicated to committing this crime, because the air was boiling hot even at night and he had to be sweating rivers under that thick cotton. You didn't see a gun, but he was holding a baseball bat and using it to poke against a shorter man's chest. (Shorter compared to the current mugger. He looked an average height to you.) The mugger was so focused on intimidating the other guy that he didn't hear you approaching, so you kept your steps slow and quiet.</p><p>You were only a couple of steps away from being in the mugger's line of sight when you really paid attention to the guy getting mugged for the first time, and something instantly felt off. He was standing with his back pressed against the dirty brick wall, hands raised with his palms showing openly, and he was calmly explaining about why there was no money in his wallet. Something about it being a slow work week? You weren't really paying attention to the verbal details, just the physical ones. Even though the guy was cornered with an abnormally large man standing over him, an abnormally large man who had no qualms about repeatedly poking him in the sternum with the end of a baseball bat, he didn't seem alarmed.</p><p>With one quick motion that you had practiced countless times in your apartment in front of your mirror, you pulled the gun from your bag and swung your body so that you were standing partially in front of the guy getting mugged. Possibly getting mugged? It seemed like the big guy wanted to commit a mugging but was being thwarted by the other guy being broke. Whatever it was characterized as, you stepped between the two with your raised gun and narrowly avoided getting poked with the baseball bat. The mugger stopped instantly, like someone had hit pause, and you could actually <i>smell</i> the pungent sweat dampening his mask. Then someone must have pressed play, because the mugger readjusted his grip on the bat and moved it so that the end of it was pointing directly at your face. You might have even gone cross-eyed for a moment while looking at it.</p><p>"Who the hell are you?" the mugger growled. Actually growled. Like he was making his voice lower and rougher, so that it would be difficult to pick him out of a voice lineup. Picking him out of a physical lineup would be a breeze though, considering the size of him. Were there any scent lineups? Because you were sure that you would never forget this stench.</p><p>"I'm the girl with the gun," you said and thumbed off the safety. You should have already done that, but you had been preoccupied with the blunt instrument hovering in front of your nose. The mugger's eyes darted from the gun to your face, back and forth a few times, and you prayed that he would back down. Just because you were willing to shoot someone to save someone didn't mean that you wanted to.</p><p>"You won't shoot me, little girl." The mugger sounded smug, so smug that you really did contemplate at least knee-capping him, but you refrained. Instead you smiled sweetly and asked, "You willing to bet your life on that?"</p><p>"The three dollars in my pocket are not worth dying for," the guy you were rescuing said. It did the trick, because the mugger's eyes narrowed a bit in thought before he slowly started to back away. He kept the bat extended as he walked backwards down the alley, and he didn't turn around to run until he had reached the end.</p><p>"Whew! That was intense!" You said it as you turned around and instantly took a step back, and the adrenaline flooding your system made your skin feel tight and itchy. To shift focus from the way your knees were starting to shake, you looked across at the guy to see how he was holding up after being held up. He was straightening up from picking something off of the ground, and you finally realized what had felt a little off. Dark red sunglasses were shielding the guy's eyes, and he had picked up a thin white cane. The mugger had been trying to rob a blind guy? Maybe you should have shot him in a kneecap or two. "Are you okay?"</p><p>"Yes, I'm fine." The guy was rubbing his chest where the bat had made repeated contact, but you didn't question him further. "Thank you for helping me." </p><p>"No problem, really. Do you want to call the cops and report the guy? Maybe take a trip to the hospital?" Okay, so you couldn't help questioning him further. </p><p>"Did you see his face? I don't think I'd be able to give a good description to a sketch artist." The guy's tone was dry but there was a little humor in the uptick of his lips, and you started to shake your head in the negative but then realized he wouldn't be able to see the gesture.</p><p>"No, he was wearing a ski mask," you explained aloud.</p><p>"In this weather?" For a blind guy who had just nearly been mugged, he seemed to be in good spirits.</p><p>"That's what I thought! He didn't seem all that bright, but there's still a chance that he might try to mug someone else." What if you stepping in with a gun caused the mugger to want to up his strategy? What if the next time he wanted to mug someone, he brought along a gun of his own? What if you made everything worse? The more you started to worry, the faster your heart started to beat. Your heart rate hadn't even jumped this high while holding a gun on someone, but now it felt like your heart was trying to break free from your chest.</p><p>"I have a friend in the police department. I'll tell him what happened so that the officers can keep an eye out." At the guy's words, you started to calm back down. Well, as calm as you could be with all of the leftover adrenaline. The important thing was that everything was going to be okay. You just stopped a mugger from robbing a blind guy. You shouldn't be freaking out, or maybe that was why you should be freaking out and not because of hypothetical situations.</p><p>"Okay, sounds good. Do you want me to walk with you? There's safety in numbers." You didn't want him to think that you were only offering because he was blind, because that wasn't it. The guy had nearly been mugged, and who was to say that the mugger wasn't lying in wait for you to leave him alone?</p><p>"I live close by, but thank you again." He was polite, and very calm. Almost too calm. Didn't most people freak out when threatened by violence?</p><p>"You're welcome," you said as you thumbed the safety back on and slipped your gun into your bag. "Take care of yourself, buddy."</p><p>You had already taken several steps back towards the opening of the alley when the guy fell into step beside you, and you turned your head to look at him full-on. Normally you wouldn't look so directly at a stranger, because that was a mixture of rude and embarrassing. He wouldn't be able to tell that you were ignoring societal niceties though, and it wasn't like you were ogling the guy. You wanted to make sure that he really was okay, so you looked your fill. The guy's dark hair was messy, but you were sure that was just from the thick humid air and not from being roughed up. There was some stubble on his jaw and cheek but no visible bruising or swelling, so you felt like it was safe to assume that the mugger hadn't clocked him. He was also walking with a steady gait, not like he had been hit in the torso with a baseball bat, so it seemed like he really was okay. That was a relief.</p><p>The two of you started to part at the end of the alley, you continuing right and him turning left, but you stopped when you heard him clear his throat. When you turned so that you were facing him, you waited for him to look up from the ground and then felt like smacking yourself as you remembered he had no reason to. His head did lift though so that his face was turned in your general direction, and you watched as his hands gripped the top of his cane while you waited for him to speak. Because he clearly wanted to speak. Why else would he clear his throat and then face towards you instead of going about his merry didn't-get-mugged way?</p><p>"Why did you help me?" he finally asked. That was an odd question, but it had a very simple answer.</p><p>"Because I love my city, and the only way to keep my city safe is to stand up to criminals," you answered easily. The guy smiled, just a quick curve of his lips, and then dipped his chin in acknowledgement of your answer. Then you turned on your heel and started walking away, but you couldn't resist calling out one more thing over your shoulder. "Besides! Someone needs to help the Devil out by taking on the dregs!"</p><p>You thought you might have heard the guy laugh, but it was also possible that you just imagined it. So you shrugged to yourself and kept walking, letting the incident fade into memory so that you could focus on what to get for dinner.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I realize that it's a loose interpretation of the prompt, but I thought Matt would appreciate someone else wanting to keep the city safe.</p><p>Also, the only reason Matt wasn't fighting off the mugger was because he wasn't in the suit and the mugger could clearly see his face. He was prepared to fight though, if necessary and if his words didn't sway the mugger.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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